Hold on: Nomination fights return to the Senate

Senate leaders are girding for a difficult fight over President Barack Obama’s nominations in the coming weeks that could again raising the specter of a possible rules change in the chamber.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on Tuesday he intends to push ahead on six nominations, several of which are proving controversial among Republicans. In the face of GOP opposition — particularly toward Obama’s picks to join powerful court and lead a key housing regulator — Reid on Monday teed up a series of procedural vote over the coming week that will require 60 votes.

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Obama to keep after Watt nomination

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“I’m going to move forward on each one of these. We’re not going to have one senator, two senators hold up these votes. People are going to have to belly up to the bar and vote on these nominations,” Reid said.

Reid and his fellow Democrats got some good news when Richard Griffin cleared a Republican filibuster, 62-37, and advanced toward a 55-44 confirmation on Tuesday afternoon to be general counsel to the National Labor Relations Board. Democrats said Griffin’s progress was part of a deal to avert a Senate rules change — known as the nuclear option — by a majority vote this summer.

That drama could play out again this fall. While most of the nominees teed up by Reid appear to be set for easy Senate approval, there are two difficult, immediate hurdles for Senate Democrats: Patricia Millett’s nomination to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and the nomination of Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.) to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Reid called Millett “imminently qualified,” adding: “I don’t know why anyone would vote against her.”

Republicans have other ideas about Millett, arguing that the eight-member court does not need to fill its three vacancies because of low workload, and they intend to stop Obama from stacking the court with his picks. The high-profile court is viewed by many as a stepping stone to the Supreme Court, elevating the significance of the fight over the judicial nominees.

“There’s simply not enough work to do on that court,” said Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn of Texas. He called Obama’s nominations of Millet part of plan “to simply pack the court in order to tilt the court ideologically in a way that favors the big government agenda of the Obama administration. We intend to stop it.”

Democrats could again eye a change in Senate filibuster rules by turning to the “nuclear option” to ease a path for Millett and fellow Circuit Court nominees Nina Pillard and Robert Wilkins. Reid would not go into hypotheticals about whether he will again try to change the Senate’s rules if Republicans block Obama’s nominations, but Cornyn believes Democrats won’t go there.

“Someday there will be another Republican president and the same rule will apply to that,” Cornyn said. “I don’t really take this threat of the nuclear option very seriously when it comes to judicial nominations.”

Reid said Republicans need to put aside their distaste for the FHFA when considering Watt, who some in the GOP see as a political pick rather than someone steeply versed in housing regulations.

“I don’t know why we wouldn’t confirm Mel Watt,” Reid said. “They may not like the job but they certainly shouldn’t dislike him.”

Cornyn said Republicans haven’t decided whether or not they will block Watt, but outside groups began to make their case on Tuesday as the Club for Growth sent out a notice urging senators to vote no on his nomination.

Meanwhile, NAACP President Ben Jealous and other Watt allies intend to make the case for his confirmation to the media in a conference call on Wednesday.